"Nikita" is a song by English singer Elton John about the Cold War from his 1985 album Ice on Fire. Released late in the year, the song was successful in many countries and was a top ten hit in almost all of them.

In the song, Elton John describes his crush on a beautiful East German border guard whom he cannot meet because he is not allowed into the country. It features George Michael on backing vocals, and is notable for a distinctive synthesizer solo.[1] The song charted at #3 on the UK Singles Chart, charting at #7 in the US and reach #1 in the German Media Control singles chart.

The song is composed in the key of G major in 4/4 time. The song employs a verse-chorus-verse format, with the second chorus being shorter than the first, plus a mechanically-themed breakdown halfway through the second chorus.

The video for the song "Nikita", directed by Ken Russell, featured Anya Major in the role of Nikita and a cameo appearance by Justin Lewis.[citation needed] Russell says he didn't realise[citation needed] that Nikita was a man's name in the Russian language (e.g. Nikita Khrushchev) and Elton John accepted the proposed script written by Russell which was a male-female love interpretation of the song, as indeed the depicted East German border guard in the video is a beautiful blonde woman with short hair. Scenes showing the two together in various happy situations, including wearing the colours of Watford F.C. of whom John is a supporter, were based in fantasy, and many were expecting a follow-up after the fall of the Berlin Wall in which they would free to be together, but it never materialised. In interviews John, who is openly gay, has said that he was aware that Nikita was a male name in Russian.[citation needed]

Elton John, Bernie Taupin and Big Pig Music were accused of plagiarism by South African photographer and songwriter Guy Hobbs. Hobbs wrote a song in 1982 entitled "Natasha", about a Russian waitress on a cruise ship, who was never allowed to leave it. The song was copyrighted in 1983, and sent to Big Pig Music (John's publisher) for a possible publishing deal, but Hobbs never heard back from the publisher. In 2001, Hobbs came across the lyric book to "Nikita" and noticed similarities with his song. Despite repeated attempts by Guy to contact John over the issue, he never heard from him and so commenced legal action in 2012.[2][3] On 31 October 2012, a US federal judge granted John and Taupin's motion to dismiss, finding that the song did not infringe Hobbs' copyright because the only similar elements were generic images and themes that are not protected under copyright law.[4][5]